(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for determining illness of a biological entity, progression to death of said biological entity, and/or timing of death of said biological entity.
The terms “biological entity”, “patient” and “subject” as used herein mean: “any and all human beings, animals and/or living organisms.”
The term “non-acute death” as used herein means: “any death that does not occur acutely; it occurs more than four days (96 hours) from a precipitous event or illness; it is the end-point of a process whose duration exceeds the four-day reference; unlike that death resulting from a proximate, immediate or acute event, a ‘non-acute death’ occurs over time.”
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
The prior, but not necessarily relevant, art is exemplified by: Bagno U.S. Pat. No. 2,111,135; Hanson U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,739; Tolles U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,566; Thomasset U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,896; Max et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,288; Sigworth U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,851; Ghislaine et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,804; Gallup et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,141; Kotler U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,689; Brasile U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,698; Cherepenin et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,866; and Kobayashi U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0023362.
A desideratum of the present invention is to avoid the animadversions of conventional methods and techniques, and to provide a novel method for determining illness of a biological entity, progression to death of said biological entity, and/or timing of death of said biological entity.